


Drowning

by Felinafullstop



Category: Independence Day (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 08:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8616607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felinafullstop/pseuds/Felinafullstop
Summary: Brackish Okun hasn't left his office in Days, David checks on him to make sure he's alright.





	

**Author's Note:**

> "Maybe if we felt any loss as keenly as we felt the death of one close to us - human history would be a lot less bloody." Commander William Riker speaking to Mr. Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

David Levinson couldn’t say he was surprised to see Dr. Okun leaned over a computer struggling with something or other. Papers, post-it notes, and notebooks scattered over the desktop as well as the floor. 

Fingers interlaced with his own and he looked down to his right. “Are you going to talk to him?” Catherine asked. “He’s been like this for days.” She murmured softly as she leaned against David’s arm. 

David sighed gently and gave a nod. “I’ll do something.” He looked down and flashed a smile. “I always do, don’t I?” 

“And you always survive.” Catherine leaned up, and he leaned down as she placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. “Take your time, I’ll be in my lab.” 

David gave a curt nod as she broke away from him and moved down the hallway toward her small lab that was nestled across from his. His feelings flared, and he wanted to go after her, but he couldn’t dismiss what was happening with his friend beyond the door. 

Opening the doorway David knocked as he entered. “Brack.” He let out an uncomfortable little laugh. “Hey buddy,” His eyes darted around at the disarray of the room. “How are you-“ He’s stalled when he steps in something that smooshes under his boot. “Doing?” Lifting his foot he sighed at the half eaten Payday Bar that was half in its wrapper and half wedged into his boot’s sole. 

Brackish didn’t look up. “Fine, everything is-“ he looked up. “Where did I put that?” David watches as the older man stands, moves around the room in a whirlwind of energy grasping at books. “No.” He tosses it over his shoulder. “Not you either.” This one dropped straight into a sink full of water. 

After mostly freeing the candy bar from his shoe David drops it in a trashcan and circles around. “Brack stop.” 

“Can’t.” He waved a hand. “Too much to do, I have to find answers, I have to get us ready to go, we have to go, they’ll teach us.” He looks up. “Ass kicking.” He waved his hand and sat back down looking at the drawers of his desk. “We’re almost ready for Ass kicking.”

David nodded. “I get that.” He held out his hands and found a somewhat clear surface at the side of the desk to sit on. “I do.” He sighed. “But you need to get out of this office.”

“Can’t no time.” Brackish insisted. “Gotta work, I have to.”

Looking up at the shelf above the desk David tipped his head. “You need to water your orchids, they’re going to wilt.” He had thought to say ‘die’ but he didn’t. 

Brackish stopped and looked up and nodded. “I’ll put that on the list.” 

“At the bottom,” David said folding his hands in his lap.

“Yeah.” This answer made it clear to David he wasn’t listening. Looking behind Brackish he noted the opposite desk on the wall, untouched, dusty and unchanged, like some piece from a wax museum that had gone to many days without care. Standing he move to the table and reached out picking up a granite nameplate that read. Dr. Milton Isaacs M.D. 

“Put that down!” Brackish’s voice lashed out. 

David held up a hand in surrender and lowered the piece back to the desk. “Okay.” He nodded as he pulled his hand back away. “It’s down.” 

“Don’t touch it.”

“Brack-“ David began slowly.

“Don’t!” Brackish’s head began to shake. “Don’t.” His voice cracked, and he dropped to his knees. 

David moved forward slowly and knelt down. “Come on.” He sighed softly. “You need a shower and some sleep.” He shook his head. 

“I didn’t go.” Brackish murmurs brokenly.

“Go where?” David asks as he helps the older man up to his feet. 

“The funeral.” The doctor looks down at his feet suddenly fascinated by the floor. He hadn't been in attendance. 

“I know.” David nods gently. “I know.” 

“His family would blame me…I just want to get this finished.” He shifts to turn but David has a firm grip on his shoulders. “I want to leave with them. There’s nothing for me here.” He reaches up to take off his glasses and rub at his eyes. 

Stilling David looks down at him. He is broken, and there is nothing left here for him. He’s mourning in the only way he can, by masking it in work. “Mil wouldn’t want you working yourself to death.” David decides out loud. He knew Isaacs well enough that it’s true. 

Brackish smiles now, through bleary eyes and nods. “But he would never stop me.” He meets David’s eyes now, and David can see the exhaustion in them. That is also true, Milton would never have stopped him, only assisted him in any way he needed.

With a nod and a firm hand to direct Okun out of his office David smirks. “We’ll keep this our little secret then. Okay?” He has to smile. “Chinese?” 

“The good place?” That seems to cheer him up. “That has those little mustard packets?” This seems to excite him out of his sorrow filled state. 

“Yes, and we’ll even go OUT.” Those words are huge; Brackish has spent most of his post-college life working underground in secret, or in the case of the last 20 years in a coma. Going out is a treat, even in his current state. "I'll get Cat, we'll call dad and the kids." David knows Brackish likes the children. 

Brackish fumbles to put his glasses back over his eyes. “Deal.” He nods. 

“But.” David states. Okun’s body tenses as he waits for the impending litany of things he must do. “Shower, change, and water those flowers.”

With a sigh, the longhaired Dr. Okun agrees. “Fine.” He pulls his arms out of David’s hands and shuffles down the hallway. 

"And you're going to sleep in a bed when we get back not at that desk!" David calls after him, watching as he comes to an intersection of halls and starts to go right but turns back going left and waves an acknowledgment, he hopes, of what he's just said. He thinks to himself, as he heads over to fetch Catherine, that he needs to get Brakish on some sort of work/sleep schedule, and get him an assistant weather he wants one or not. 

He stops and looks into a nearby lab full of busy people and he smiles. "It's great to be home." 

The End

**Author's Note:**

> No Payday bars were harmed in the writing of this Fan-Fiction.


End file.
